A genial black South African named Elvis travels to his nuptials and encounters enough obstacles to fill a sitcom season in "White Wedding," a lightweight comedy.

Some scenes are mild fun, but the mishaps that befall our hero aren't especially inventive, and although the South African setting provides a bit of interest, it's never really used incisively.

Elvis (Kenneth Nkosi) and his best man Tumi (Rapulana Seiphemo) are on the road from Durban to Cape Town, while the bride-to-be, Ayanda (Zandile Msutwana), is up to her ears in wedding preparations, complicated by an interfering mother, a fussy gay wedding planner and an unwanted visit from a chauvinistic former boyfriend.

Elvis and Tumi can hardly drive a mile without comic complications, including a drunken bachelor party, an encounter with racist whites, a hitchhiking English doctor (Jodie Whittaker) who's been two-timed by her boyfriend, and, not least of all, a shaggy goat given as a wedding present.

The groom keeps trying to call the bride to assure her he'll be there on time, but faulty cell phone connections ensure that the anxiety is never alleviated.

Director Jann Turner offers affable characters and an amiable mood, but there's too much plot, and the comic delays start to seem contrived. The film halfheartedly raises questions of marital fidelity and racial harmony.

"White Wedding" badly needs a dose of craziness or a layer of substance, or both.